Mumbai, Aug 3 : A car stuffed with Rs 1.68-crore, destination Mantralaya, and a tight-lipped businessman: officers of Mumbai Police Special Squad have a tricky case on hand, reports Mumbai Mirror.
Following a tip-off, the police intercepted an Innova (registration number MH O2 AP 8531) at Priyadarshani junction in Sion, around 2 pm.
Seated alongside the driver was a 28-year-old man, dressed in black suit. He identified himself as Piyush Marodiya, a coal businessman from Nagpur, and said he was on his way to Mantralaya. Cops found two bags stashed with cash, in Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination.
Why was he going to Mantralaya? Was the cash meant for someone there? From where did he get so much money? How did he bring the money to Mumbai, or did he withdrew the money here? Marodiya had no answer to any of these queries from the cops, he just kept repeating that he was in the city on a business deal. He was charged for unaccounted cash, and detained.
Marodiya told the police that he landed in the city on Monday. He booked himself at Sahara Star Hotel in Vile Parle, and was scheduled to return to Nagpur on Tuesday.
The car he was traveling in was booked from a tourism agency.
The driver, Ganesh Pawar, told the police that Marodiya asked him to take him to Mantralaya. On the way, he received a call, following which he asked the driver to head towards Dombivili.
Pawar told the police that in Dombivili, Marodiya got off at a place he didn't recognise, and a few minutes later, returned with two bags. He then asked the driver to head towards Mantralaya.
Police sources said at 12.48 pm, the control room got a call from an unidentified person, saying a man in an Innova was carrying “suspicious items”, and was driving towards Mumbai.
Checkpoints were set up at various spots, and at 1.58 pm, constable Diwakar Khavde, attached to Chunabhatti Police Station, spotted the car at Suman Nagar junction.
Khavde and Assistant Sub-Inspector Shankar Virkar followed the car in a police van, and caught up with it just a few hundred metres away, at Priyadarshani junction.
Constable Khavde said, “We found a man dressed in black suit in the car, besides the driver. A Special Squad team also reached the spot.”
The cops counted cash worth Rs 1,68,79000. Marodia had no documents, such as bank transaction slips, nor was he talking about the source of money. ACP Firoz Patel said, “We have booked a man for carrying unaccounted cash. Inquiries are on.”
